- Irish bassist Ronan Guilfoyle continues to contribute wonderful interviews over at his blog "Mostly Music." Here he interviews bassist Gene Perla and offers some insight into the many great drummers he's played with:

- NPR recently featured a concert hosted by Ali Jackson Jr., celebrating the music of Max Roach at Jazz @ Lincoln Center. The program is narrated by bassist Christian McBride and a great episode to check out:

- Another interview with Roy Haynes, this time by Portland's Alan Jones:

- Jeff Hamilton offers a very important lesson on the how's and why's of keeping loose while playing the drums:

I wish someone had told me this 20 years ago...

- I posted earlier blog posts on both Ralph Peterson Jr. and, separately, the importance of playing along with recordings. Here's an example of Peterson playing along with a Christian McBride drum-less bass,trumpet and guitartrio on Herbie Hancock's "Eye of the Hurricane":

- Jerry Leake offers a great lesson on a 12/8 Bell pattern and various corresponding cross rhythms:

- Martin France demonstrates some up-tempo brush playing:

- I recently heard Chicago's Dana Hall here in Calgary with the Spin Quartet. Hall is a great musician and force to be reckoned with. Overall the group was excellent and their playing and concept quite inspiring. Something to really aspire to.

Here's a good example of Dana Hall in action where he clearly exhibits his uncompromising style of Jazz drumming:

- And finally here's a drummer I greatly admire, the one and only Dr. Marvin Bugalu Smith:

- What am I listening to these days?

David Friesen Trio "The Name of a Woman" - Alan Jones (drums)

Walt Weiskopf "Day In, Night Out" - Kendrick Scott (drums)

David Friesen Trio "Midnight Mood" - Alan Jones (drums)

Tara Davidson "Duets"

David Friesen Trio "1-2-3" - Alan Jones (drums)

Pedro Martinez "Rumbas de la Rumba" - Pedro Martinez (percussion)

Harold Land "The Fox" - Frank Butler (drums)

- And finally, here's today's Last Word:

Alright, that's all I've got for today. Thanks again for tuning in and see you all again real soon.

Thursday, September 24, 2015

Tenor saxophonist Joe Lovano is one of my favourite musicians. I first heard him around 1995 while he was touring Western Canada and performing the music from his double album "Quartets" which featured two amazing bands and two amazing drummers: Lewis Nash and Billy Hart. I've been a fan of Lovano's music and many projects ever since.

I had the opportunity to work briefly with Lovano at the short lived Lake Placid Jazz Workshop (Lake Placid, New York) during the summer of 1998. I was really taken aback by not only his understanding of rhythm but the man REALLY knows drums, drumming and drummers! I was really impressed with his own drumming too which we would frequently witness during the evening jam sessions.

Another couple recent favourites of mine are Lovano's "Trio Fascination, Vol.1"with Dave Holland and Elvin Jones (this a great example of Elvin's playing, in the latter part of his career...great tunes too) and "Sound Prints" with Joey Baron on drums. Lovano always plays with great drummers.

Apparently Joe also owns an impressive collection of gongs and, from what I've heard, one of Paul Motian's old drum sets. Without a doubt, the man knows how to play them too!

Anyways, from New York University's "Conversations with..." series, here's Joe Lovano talking about Life & Music:

And if you wanted some proof as to what a monster and heavy swinger Lovano is behind a set of drums, look no further...

Monday, September 14, 2015

Another great lesson thanks to the kind folks over at the Jazz @ Lincoln Center's Jazz Academy. Here's the Master brush player Jeff Hamilton himself talking and demonstrating some very important, basic brush concepts:

This idea of playing the brushes laterally or "side-to-side" as opposed to strictly an up-and-down motion was one introduced to me (via Jeff incidentally!) about ten years ago or so from an article he wrote for the PAS publication Percussive Notes (see "You've Got to Be Pretty to Play the Brushes" in Percussive Notes, February 2004). This really opened up my own brush playing and changed things in a positive way. I don't always play way this but it certainly adds another dimension to one's brush playing and it really helped me. Check it out.

Thursday, September 10, 2015

Here's a series of six lessons with UNT drum professor Ed Soph, brought to us by the fine people over at Zildjian, all featuring topics on ride cymbal playing:

There are some important lessons and concepts in here to check out for sure.

All six video lessons are embedded in the link above. If you scroll down you'll find a wealth of other great lessons from the Zildjian Drumset Education vault offered by some other artists as well. Enjoy! (and learn something too in the process...)

Thursday, September 3, 2015

Thanks for your patience as I took a good portion of this summer off from blogging. Sorry for the hiatus! Well, now we're back in the saddle and have plenty to share with you all in the weeks and months ahead. Our correspondents here at Four on the Floor are well rested and ready to get back to work. The break was nice and we have plenty of things to talk about.

So to get started, here's a few articles and links to check out from around the interweb:

- Christian McBride offers "All About That Bass, But Give The Drummer Some" over at NPR:

This is a blog about jazz, jazz drumming and all things unrelated. Thanks for stopping by!

A Bit About Me...

Jonathan McCaslin was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba and raised in Regina, Saskatchewan. Jonathan began playing the drums at the age of nine. He progressed through the Regina Lions Junior Band and the music program at his high school, Campbell Collegiate, soon developing a passion for playing the drums and jazz.Ultimately, Jon's interest in music led him to enroll in the Jazz Studies program at McGill University, graduating with distinction in 1999.

While at McGill Jon had the opportunity to study with some of the finest jazz educators in the country including Gordon Foote, Kevin Dean, Jan Jarcyzk, Chris McCann, Andre White, Michel Lambert and Dave Laing. He also attended the prestigious summer jazz workshop presented by the Banff Centre for the Arts in 1997, where he performed with Canadian jazz greats Hugh Fraser, Don Thompson and Kenny Wheeler.

In the spring of 2002 McCaslin completed his Master's in Jazz Studies at McGill University where he studied jazz drumming, improvisation and composition.

In January 2003 Jon released his debut CD, “McCallum’s Island”.Featuring his quintet, the CD contains an exciting collection of McCaslin’s original compositions, featuring himself and his band.The release of this CD was followed by a twenty-day tour of Western Canada, performing to enthusiastic, capacity audiences. During March of 2003 Jonathan was the recipient of a fellowship from the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and attended the “Betty Carter Jazz Ahead” residency in Washington, D.C. Along with twenty other distinguished young jazz artists, McCaslin was featured with such jazz icons as Terence Blanchard, Carmen Lundy, Winard Harper, Curtis Fuller and John Clayton.

McCaslin’s quintet performed at the 2003 edition of the Montreal International Jazz Festival and was nominated for the General Motors Grand Prix du Festival (awarded to the most outstanding Canadian group). From 2004 until 2006, Jon toured North America, Asia and Europe with the high-energy, critically acclaimed music production troupe “Barrage”. Featuring a cast of seven world-class fiddlers and a four-piece band, this dynamic show featured high-energy music and fiddle traditions from around the world set to upbeat choreography and movement.

In 2015, Dr. McCaslin received his Doctorate through the University of Toronto and completed his dissertation on the conceptualization of contemporary melodic jazz drumming. He is currently based in Calgary, Alberta where he maintains a busy performing and teaching schedule across Canada.